TV write-in ballots

WGA taps 'Malcolm,' 'SVU' for tube noms

HOLLYWOOD — Hollywood scribes have lauded Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle” and NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” with two nominations each for WGA writing awards.

The small-screen nominations, announced Monday, also saw TV icon Larry Gelbart draw a nom for original longform writing for HBO’s “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.” Gelbart will be competing for his fifth WGA award, having won for “Barbarians at the Gates” as well as screenplay trophies for “Tootsie,” “Movie, Movie” and “Oh, God!”

Kudos will be awarded Feb. 21 at the WGA’s 56th annual awards gala at the Beverly Hilton. Screenplay nominations will be announced Thursday.

The “Malcolm” noms went to Gary Murphy and Neil Thompson for the “Day Care” episode and to Dan Kopleman for “Malcolm Films Reese.” Murphy and Thompson also received a nom in 2000 for the laffer.

Also nominated in the comedy category were Jenny Bicks for “A Woman’s Right to Shoes” for HBO’s “Sex and the City” and Bob Daily for “No Sex Please, We’re Skittish” for NBC’s “Frasier.” WGA nom was the second for Bicks, also nommed in 1999 for “Sex,” and Daily, who won last year for “Frasier” along with Dan O’Shannon and Lori Kirkland.

“Frasier” has racked up a formidable record in the WGA comedy competition with wins in four of the last five years, losing only in 2002 (to “Everybody Loves Raymond”).

The “Law & Order: SVU” noms in drama series went to the team of Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters for the “Abomination” and “Loss” episodes. Other noms went to Michael S. Chernuchin for the “Bounty” episode of NBC’s “Law & Order”; Josh Schwartz for the pilot of Fox’s “The OC”; and Alexa Junge and Lauren Schmidt for the “Disaster Relief” episode of NBC’s “The West Wing.”

Junge received a WGA nom in 1999 for a “Friends” episode.

“The West Wing” won the drama series trophy three years ago, followed by “The Sopranos” in 2002 and “The Education of Max Bickford” last year.

Anderson won the category in 1992 for “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom,” while Meredith won in 1996 for “Bastard Out of Carolina.” Weiser shared a 1999 nom with Phil Alden Robinson for “Freedom Song.”

Fox’s “The Simpsons” dominated animation voting with three noms: Matt Selman for “The Daddy Who Knew Too Little,” J. Stewart Burns for “Moe Baby Blues” and Michael Price for “My Mother the Carjacker.” Selman received a nod in 2001 for “The Simpsons”; Burns won a 2001 Emmy for a “Futurama” seg.

Other toon noms went to Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May for “Reborn to Be Wild” seg of Fox’s “King of the Hill”; Steven Banks for “Rescue Jet Fusion” for Nick’s “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius”; and Patric M. Verrone for “The String” for Fox’s “Futurama.” Verrone is treasurer of the WGA West and winner of a guild lifetime achievement award for animation.

In the comedy/variety specials category, noms went to CBS’s “The Kennedy Center Honors” and ABC’s “The 75th Annual Academy Awards”; in the comedy/variety series category, noms were given to NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” Fox’s “Mad TV,” HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” and Showtime’s “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!”

Daytime serial noms went to ABC’s “All My Children” and ABC’s “One Life to Live.”

Documentary (current events) noms went to Martin Smith for “Truth, War and Consequences” and Michael J. Kirk for “The War Behind Closed Doors,” both on PBS’ “Frontline.” Kirk also received a nom in the docu (other than current events) category for “Cyber War,” also for “Frontline”; Joseph McMaster received two noms for Nova’s “The Elegant Universe,” sharing one with Julia Cort.

Other noms went to Thomas Lennon & Mi Ling Sui and Bill Moyers for PBS’ “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience,” Marcia Smith for “The Murder of Emmett Till” on PBS’ “The American Experience” and Michelle Ferrari for “Seabiscuit” on “The American Experience.”

Moyers also received a nom in the category of news analysis, feature or commentary, along with Michael Winship for PBS’ “Now With Bill Moyers” and Barbara Dury and Morley Safer for “Baptism by Fire” for CBS’s “60 Minutes.” In the news (regularly scheduled, bulletin or breaking report) category, noms went to Robert Mank for “Passing of Music Legends” for “CBS News Sunday Morning” and John Craig Wilson for “Showdown With Saddam” for CBS News.